ADV crackdown on, as SEC says firm claimed $200M in AUM, had $3M

Investment News – A Chicago investment adviser and its principal lured investors into two funds of hedge funds the firm managed by “grossly exaggerating” the firm’s assets under management and making other false and misleading statements, the Securities and Exchange Commission charges.

According to an administrative complaint filed by the SEC’s enforcement division, Calhoun Asset Management LLC and Krista Lynn Ward told one asset management firm — which later had 20 of its clients invest in the Calhoun funds — that Calhoun had grown from $27 million in assets under management in 1999 to $200 million in 2006. The firm actually had at most $3 million under management at that time, the SEC said.